Taylorcraft BL- 65 airplane, operate a ;ight
simulator, hand crank a propeller and
dress up as a pilot or ;ight crew member
at the College Park Aviation Museum, an
af;liate of the Smithsonian Institution.

Through the building’s ;oor-to-ceiling
windows, you might see a plane taking
off or landing on the runway of College
Park Airport, the world’s oldest continuously operating airport (the hangar is next
to the museum). The airport was established in 1909 as a training facility for
the ;rst military pilots.

The 27,000-square-foot museum(much smaller than D.C.’s National Airand Space Museum at 160,000 squarefeet) features 10 historic aircraft—froma reproduction of the skeletal WrightModel B aeroplane, used in 1911 as oneof the ;rst military planes, to the sleekmetal mid-20th-century Ercoupe 415D,dubbed “the plane of tomorrow.”There are lots of interactive activities,including an outdoor play area with a half-dozen wooden ride-on pedal planes forkids to drive on the patio. In the muse-um’s “Flight School” area, visitors canlearn about ;ight principles by assem-bling small airplanes out of woodenparts, or by testing the lift of differentobjects in a wind tunnel.

The College Park Aviation Museum is open

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission is $5;

$4 for seniors ages 60 and older; $2 for
ages 2-17; free for children younger than